Fourth quarter dominance propels Lady Raiders to victory

The Lady Raiders (12-8, 7-2 C-USA) traveled to Thomas Assembly Center to take on the LA Tech Lady Techsters (10-10, 5-4 C-USA) Saturday afternoon. Alex Johnson posted another huge performance with the assistance of Ty Petty to carry the Raiders to another conference victory.

The Lady Raiders struggled to find their footing early, but hit their stride and caught fire from deep with three minutes to go in the first quarter. MT hit four consecutive three-pointers to extend their lead to double digits.

The Techsters tightened their defense and forced a steal and block to begin the second quarter and cut the Blue Raiders lead to only four. Alex Johnson recorded six of MT’s next 10 points following a Coach Insell timeout. The run was finished off by an Abbey Sissom three-pointer on a fastbreak to put the Blue Raiders up by 13. The Techsters fought back just before the end of the half to trim the deficit to six.

The Techsters came out of the break on a defensive terror. They held MTSU to only 10 points for the entire third quarter while finding their own rhythm on offense. Before the start of the fourth, the Techsters were within striking distance and only trailed by one point.

With momentum on their side, the Techsters took control and held their first lead of the game just two minutes into the final quarter of play. With their backs now against the wall, Johnson, Petty, and Charity Savage exploded on the offensive end for the Lady Raiders. Middle Tennessee nearly doubled their total score through three quarters in the final quarter of play alone.

Through the third, MT scored 45 points and in the fourth, they scored 34. They held the Techsters to 20 points in the fourth and pulled away in dominating fashion while taking the road win, 79-65.

The Lady Raiders dominated in points off turnovers as well, outscoring the Techsters 30-7 in that category.

Petty led the team in scoring with 26 points while also tallying 5 assists. Johnson tacked on 23 points and was perfect from the foul line, going 7-for-7.

The Lady Raiders will host the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners at Murphy Center in their next matchup. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday.